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VW to cut 30,000 jobs amid restructuring

Europe's largest carmaker, Volkswagen, is intending to cut tens of thousands of jobs amid a drive to shape its post-Dieselgate future, the company has confirmed. A board meeting is looking into future investments.

Europe's largest carmaker, Volkswagen, is planning to slash 30,000 jobs at its core VW brand globally to prepare the Wolfsburg-based company for a better future after its massive emissions-cheating scandal.

Executives announced on Friday there would be no compulsory redundancies until the end of 2025, but jobs that would break away as the carmaker focused more on e-mobility and less on combustion-engine technology would not be replaced.

German sites would be especially affected by the cuts, with roughly 23,000 positions to go in Europe's powerhouse. The company added, though, that 9,000 new jobs would be created in future-oriented business divisions.

VW said the job cuts were part of a deal between the works council and management linking a leaner workforce with pledges to invest in future technology.

All in all, Volkswagen is hoping to save up to 3.7 billion euros ($3.9 billion) annually as a result of large-scale restructuring.

Pivotal investments

"With our future pact, that is our deal between unions and management, we're making a huge leap forward," VW brand chief Herbert Diess said in a statement.

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Supervisory board members are meeting to debate major investments in key technologies and plants over the next 5 years. The future pact foresees investments of 3.5 billion euros annually for the next couple of years.

Volkswagen has been struggling to leave its pollution scandal behind and usher in a new era focused on electric cars. The company is still facing major fines from regulators, with the US Department of Justice alone seeking to get up to $14 billion from the carmaker for its large-scale rigging of emissions tests in the US.

hg/sgb (Reuters, dpa)

10 things you (probably) didn't know about Volkswagen

The people's car

Did you know that Volkswagen - or the 'people's car' - was Adolf Hitler's brainchild, and that it was developed by Porsche founder Ferdinand Porsche? In 1938, Hitler even had built an entire city just to house the factory and its workers. First known as "City of the [Kraft durch Freude] Car at Fallersleben," it was renamed Wolfsburg on May 25, 1945. To this day, the city remains home to VW.

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The world's #1 love-bug

From Hitler's wet dream on wheels to the world's favorite love-bug: The original Beetle - known in Germany as 'Der Käfer' - ruled the list of the world's best-selling car for much of the 20th century. By the time production was discontinued in 2003, more than 21.5 million Beetles had been sold worldwide.

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Volkswagen's many faces

The company has come a long way since the 1930s. The Volkswagen Group's garage currently fits 12 brands under its roof. Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini, Porsche and Skoda are among its best-selling subsidiaries, accounting for 37 percent of 2014 sales.

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Market domination

Today, Volkswagen really has become the "People's Car": The Group accounts for more than every third car - 36 percent, to be exact - sold in Germany.

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1 out of 10 cars worldwide

Globally, more than 1 out of every 10 cars sold in 2014 was a Volkswagen Group brand. The company sold more than 10.2 million vehicles in that year. 7 out of 10 were sold outside Germany.

10 things you (probably) didn't know about Volkswagen

US market an uphill battle

The coveted US market has proven to be a real thorn in the eye for the German carmaker. Just 6 percent of its cars - or some 600,000 - were sold abroad. Despite huge investments, its market share there has been stuck at about 2 percent, trailing far behind competitors like GM, Ford and Toyota.

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Pole position at stake?

In July, 2015 Volkswagen overtook Toyota as the world's top-selling carmaker. It's also the world's biggest automotive company by revenue. In 2014, it reported sales of 202.5 billion euros. Profit after tax came in at 11.1 billion euros. But after the emissions scandal, analysts warn VW's pole position could be at risk.

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Global employer

As of December 31, 2014, the Group employed nearly 600,000 workers, making it one of the biggest employers worldwide. More than a third - some 270,000 - worked at one of its German locations.

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Germany's biggest industry

The auto industry is the largest sector in the Germany economy, fuelled by the so-called 'Big Three' - Daimler, BMW and VW. Combined, the industry employs nearly 800,000 people - or almost 2 percent of the German workforce.

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German cars drive exports

The German car industry's total revenue nearly topped 370 billion euros in 2014. It made up about one-fifth of the country's exports, and contributed around 3 percent to German GDP.